Bully for You
by iloverob32
Summary: One-shot for episode 16. I thought it would be fun to explore their thoughts in the following scenes and fill in some gaps. It begins where Bash is being taken away to the dungeon and ends when the three of them meet up again to go see Olivia.


**A/N: I just loved the scene between Mary and Sebastian in the dungeon. Who's with me? All kinds of emotions crossed both their faces in that scene. I thought it would be fun to explore their thoughts. This has resulted in watching this scene multiple times. Darn! :) I will start with the previous scene where Bash is taken to the dungeon. Mary and Francis come upon him and it will continue on and past where Mary and Bash come out of the dungeon where Francis meets them again. All familiar dialogue is from the show Reign. The thoughts are all mine and hopefully close to what they were thinking.**

Mary looks at Francis in surprise upon hearing a familiar voice. "Is that Bash? He is supposed to be gone!"

Francis returns her shocked look as they hurry into the hall from the throne room. "Better not be," he mumbles, even though he knows it is.

In the hallway, Bash is being led away by guards while trying to explain why he has returned. Francis and Mary stare on, speechless for a moment. He says something about a threat in the woods. He is pleading for his father to listen. Then he mentions murder? Is he talking about the pagans or something else?

"What was he thinking? I can't believe he came back," Mary says with shock in her voice. _Why would he take the risk? He already thinks Francis tried to have him killed, which he didn't._

With his hands on the hilt of his sword and with an air of superiority, Francis says, "I have given him every chance to be free and yet here he is." He turns his body away from her and looks down the hall where Bash had exited. "I am done helping him," he says with finality._ If he wants to be foolish, let him. He is being absurd thinking he can have Mary's heart when I already have it._

Mary looks at him in disbelief and disapproval, "Francis, he's your brother." Mary knows he still cares deep down. She understands why he would feel this way. After all, a try for the throne is reason enough for execution. But since it was Mary's idea to marry Bash to save Francis, he should have more compassion. For Bash anyway.

Francis feels no such compassion. "He's a liar and a murderer." With obvious jealousy, he turns to Mary. "We both know why he came back. Don't give him another chance to get close to you." With that, Francis walks away from Mary disgusted that his brother has returned.

Mary is confused_. Another chance to get close to me? How is that going to happen? He is in the dungeon. Did Francis just warn me not to see him? Is that what he meant? But I have to plead his case. I have to fight for him, since Francis won't. There is no one else. They will kill him down there! The king could have ordered that already for all I know. I have to get down there quickly! But what of the guards? I have heard that jailer is a pretty sly businessman, but for the right price he will do anything. _

Ignoring her husbands words to stay away from him, she runs as fast as her feet will carry her to her room. Quickly going through her stash of coins, she shoves several handfuls in her pockets. _There! That ought to be enough to bribe the guards_. She starts running again down the halls and corridors to the stairs of the dungeon. While running, she realizes she somehow needs to get Bash out of here secretly and safely._ I don't have much time, but I have to figure something out_. _I bet that jailer knows somebody and can help. _She stops abruptly when she is met with a guard who stands at the top of the stairs, securing the door that leads to the dungeon. She was not expecting someone to be guarding this door.

"Y-your Grace?" the guard stammers, shocked to see the queen. He then gives a small bow. He is a balding, slightly pudgy older man.

"Move, please," she says with boldness. She has no time to waste.

"Pardon me, your grace, you mustn't go down there." He hesitates, wondering if he should let her go. She is a queen after all.

Mary is not usually one to project her authority, but it is warranted in this case. "I said let me by." With that, she tosses enough coins at him to feed his family for a month. He barely gets out a "thank you" before she throws open the door and flies down the stairs.

She slows as she reaches the bottom, where it opens into a short hallway. At the end of the hallway, she stops, unsure where to go. There is a hall to her left and right, as well as a door right in front of her, guarded by the jailer._ I am sure this is where they are keeping him. Who else would be guarded?_

"Miss?" the jailer says to her in a gravelly voice. In the dimly lit hall, she is easily mistaken for an ordinary girl. As he comes closer, he realizes his mistake.

"Your grace, what are you doing down here?" He questions in a whisper. He is a scraggly, unkempt old man, with hardly any teeth and a stoop to his posture.

"I need to see Sebastian de Poitiers at once," she whispers and reels back at the smell of him.

"Your grace, I am afraid I have been given strict orders by the King to not let anyone see him."

Placing coins in his hand delicately, so as not to touch him, "These are your new orders. Let me see him now." Softening her tone, "A-and I need another favor. I need a way for him to escape." she continues in a low voice and places more coins in his hand.

The guard looks around for anyone listening, but it is just the two of them. "There are rumors that a merchant is due at the castle tomorrow. He has a habit of, shall we say, making people disappear into thin air." He makes a dancing motion with his hand.

"I don't want him harmed!" she whispers loudly.

"No, no, your grace. You misunderstand. He will take him to wherever you want him to go, secretly. I can arrange for it all."

"And he won't be harmed?"

"I am sure for the right amount his safety can be guaranteed," he remarks shrewdly, looking at the coins in his hand.

She can be just as shrewd. "Very well then," and slips the last of her coins in his hand. "This is to ensure his safety. I want him delivered to the Spanish border safely and put on a sailing vessel. I repeat, no harm will come to him. Am I understood? "

With a nod and a smirk, "You are persistent, your grace." he says not unkindly, bows and makes a gesture for her to take the lead. He then unlocks the door for her.

She enters the cell and is not surprised to see Bash in shackles, but it breaks her heart to see him like that. He is, however, very surprised to see her. He had prepared himself to die in the short time he had been back. Returning to the castle a second time meant almost certain death. But he couldn't just leave the common people helpless. The king is supposed to protect his people and he needed to know about this threat in the woods. To see her brought about a range of emotions, from elation at her presence at all to disappointment at having been her second choice.

Pleading and wringing her hands, "We don't have much time, so listen carefully. I bribed your jailer. A merchant's wagon will take you to the Spanish border. If you value your life, you will do as I say and you will never return." _Please do this, Bash. It is your only chance to survive._

"I am not ready to go to Spain-" he begins, but she cuts him off.

With a furrowed brow and a raised voice, "Bash, what is wrong with you? You never should have returned here. You have to leave. There are too many in the castle who want you dead." _Oh, sometimes he is so maddening! So stubborn!_ _Why can't he see this is his only chance at survival._ She turns to leave in a huff.

"You mean Francis," he boldly states with distaste. _I know it was him, despite what she says. She is so blindly in love with him_.

She turns back to him, rather angry at having to defend Francis again, "He did not try to have you killed," she states emphatically.

His narrowed eyes say it all._ Yes, he did. I know he did. Who else would have a real reason to want me dead? He is so jealous that you feel anything for me at all._

_I can't believe he would think his own brother would do that. But...he might now wish him dead for returning a second time_. "Although, he could," she reluctantly admits.

He gives a small nod. _Finally, her eyes are open to the truth._

"You stir up a jealousy and bitterness in him that scares me. He gets this look in his eyes, it's like I don't know him."_ This is why I really need you to leave. For as much his sake, as well as mine. Then maybe we can all get past this and be a normal couple._

His eyes never leave hers, even when she looks away from him_. Oh, Mary, I am not trying to make your life difficult. I just need to protect you. I am the only one who will ever put you first. I still love you and I know you love me too. You told me so that retched night._

She continues, "It's almost as if he knows," she says this mostly to herself. A look of realization crosses her face.

Bash notices. "That you'd have been happy without him, if you'd married me instead," he says this rather assuredly.

She swings her eyes back to him. His words bring her back to her senses and the look is gone. It has been replaced with anger. Taking a step towards him and sounding indignant, "There is nothing between you and I except for my concern for you."

Bash refuses to be hurt by her words, since she all but admitted to feelings for him just a moment ago. With a slight nod, "Then we have arrived at the same spot."_ If she is going to lie, I can lie too._ Bash notices she is visibly taken aback, but continues, "I am here on behalf of another, a girl I met in the woods."

Obviously hurt, she takes a step back, "Well, bully for you and your speedy recovery." She has only seemingly heard the part where he met a girl and disregarded the first part. _ I can't believe he has moved on so fast. Just a few short months ago, I was his world. Now he tells me he has moved on? _She is realizing she has not moved on so fast, at least not completely.

"Don't, not until you hear what happened to her." _All she heard was that I met another girl. How interesting that she infers from that how I have moved on_. _Was that hurt I saw all over her face? But how can she be hurt? She chose Francis._

But Mary is intrigued by him and is always willing to listen to Bash. She puts all of her feelings aside and is ready to listen with an open mind. "All right, Bash, tell me what happened to her."

He tells her this strange story where a beast has captured this girl and how her brother helped him search for her. Bash mentions how kind her family was to him, and her ability to hunt and trap was unmatched. She was the best at what she did, for a girl. He purposely left out the romantic bits between him and the girl. Bash was not trying to hurt Mary after all. However, Mary notices his smile as he talks about her. Picturing him with another girl, even innocently, makes her frown at the thought. She looks at the floor.

"I tried to tell Father this and the guards too. They wouldn't listen." Noticing her frown, "What, Mary?" Still chained, he tries to position his body to look at her face. He is unable to do so and relaxes in defeat.

Looking up at him after hearing the chains shift positions, she sees the complete adoration in his eyes. She tries to ignore it. "Well, I am listening. And if you say there is a danger in the woods, I believe you. I remember that night in the woods when Isobel was about to have her baby. Those horrible pagans!" He nods.

"There is something else you need to know, Mary." His eyes take on a softer tone. She nods for him to continue. "I found someone in the woods while I was staying with this family, someone familiar to all of us here at the castle."

Her forehead scrunches in confusion, "What? Who?"

"Olivia, Francis' ex-lover. She looked a mess and I brought her here, to Nostradamus. She had escaped that night the Count took the castle hostage. She was then taken by this beast who fed on her for months. She somehow escaped and that is when I found her."

"Oh." She says simply, not really knowing how to respond. She clasps her hands, "We'll, let me see if I can get your jailer to release you." _I can't believe she's here! We have to tell Francis!_

"Thank you, Mary, for listening, for being objective." He says, with a grateful smile.

Mary returns the smile and turns to exit, finding the jailer posted outside the door "Sir, I need you to release this man."

"Your grace, I am not able to do that," the jailer replies, jingling the coins in his pocket.

"That money for the merchant, keep it." The jailer's eyes go wide and he stops jingling his coins. "The merchant is no longer needed. Just release him to my custody. Now!" The jailer, who was stunned by the amount of money he was receiving, jumped at her command.

"Y-yes, your grace." As he unlocks Bash's shackles, Mary and Bash lock eyes, again. Both of their expressions soften and they both smile a little. Bash shakes his arms, rubs his shoulders and rolls his neck in an attempt to stop some of the aching.

They walk in silence for a moment, not really knowing what to say. That is when they see Francis coming towards them.

With disbelief in his voice, Francis says,"I came down here because I was worried about you and here I find you with my wife, again. Shall I feign surprise?" _I can't believe she still cares for him after what he has done and after I warned her not let him get close to her._

"It's not what it looks like. He didn't come for me," Mary pleads._ Francis please believe me, for it is the truth._

"Oh, even you can't believe that," Francis retorts. _She can't be that naive!_

Finally, Bash speaks and walks past them when the other two stop. "I came for the castle's resources, it's armed men and horses, to seek out and destroy a threat in the woods. And then I will leave, I promise." As he turns around, he sees they have approached closer.

"What threat?" Francis spits out the question.

"You've seen the sacrifices in the blood wood. These pagans endanger every man, woman and child in the realm. They even threatened your own wife." Mary lowers her head when he mentions her. "And they do it all in service to a monster they call the Darkness."

"I know how it sounds," Mary defends Bash.

Francis eyes are wide at Bash's declaration of a monster in the woods. "You sound as ignorant as those pagans. A monster in the woods." He can't hardly believe Bash's story to get close to Mary. _He would go to any length to see her again, even making up stories. And she believes him!_

Undeterred, Bash continues, "I saw it in the shadows myself. It took a girl, a girl I cared for. Her name was Rowan and now she is certainly dead. However badly you want me gone, I promise, I want it a thousand times more. But I am not leaving until the woods are safe."

"Mary, leave us, please." Clearly, Francis does not believe him. _Mary doesn't need to hear such rubbish and I need to sort this out without her present. Perhaps convince him to leave willingly. And when he refuses, I can force him. But I can't do that with her here._

"I know you don't believe me, but there is someone you will believe," Bash says matter of factly, before Mary can say anything or leave.

Taking a step forward, Francis says, "And who is that?"

"The Darkness has claimed countless victims. Only one survived. Your old flame, Olivia D'Amencourt. And she's here in this castle right now."

Francis turns to look at Mary. There is a moment of silence and then, "You don't seem surprised."

"He told me in there," as she points sheepishly in the direction of his cell.

Francis says with clear disdain, "Of course he did. Well, let's go see Olivia. By all means Bash, lead the way." He makes a mocking, sweeping hand gesture while bowing.

Mary rolls her eyes at the scene, but walks beside him anyway, with Bash leading the way. Bash says nothing. He knows not to provoke the future king.

As they walk, Francis leans over and whispers, "I want to talk about this later. Alone."

She just gives a single nod and continues walking.

**A/N: Please leave a review and tell me what you think! **


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